Pastel de Nata
Ingredients
- 1 sheet puff pastry, rolled into a log and chilled
- 250 ml milk
- 4 egg yolks
- 100 g sugar
- 20 g cornstarch
- 1 cinnamon stick, strip of lemon zest, splash of vanilla
- cinnamon and powdered sugar, to finish
First made by monks at Lisbon's Jerónimos Monastery before 1834 — a way of using up egg yolks left over after egg whites were used to starch clothes and clarify wine — pastéis de nata pair a flaky, spiral-rolled pastry shell with a rich egg custard. Baked at very high heat, the custard develops the dark, blistered caramel spots that are the tart's signature, and they're traditionally finished with a dusting of cinnamon.
Method
Roll the puff pastry tightly into a log from the short end, wrap, and chill for at least 20 minutes.
Slice the log into rounds and press each into a muffin tin, spiral-side up, pushing from the center outward to form a thin cup.
Whisk the sugar and cornstarch, then whisk in a little milk to form a smooth paste.
Heat the remaining milk with the cinnamon stick and lemon zest, then whisk into the sugar-cornstarch paste.
Return to the heat and cook, whisking, until thickened; whisk in the egg yolks off the heat until smooth, then strain.
Fill each pastry cup about three-quarters full with the custard.
Bake at a very high temperature, around 250-290°C (480-550°F), for 10-12 minutes, until the pastry is golden and the custard has dark caramelized spots.
Cool slightly and dust with cinnamon and powdered sugar before serving.
Ingredients
- 175 g unsalted butter, plus extra melted butter for the tins
- 250 g plain flour
- 150 ml water
- Pinch of salt
- 250 ml milk
- 2 cinnamon sticks
- Peel of 1 unwaxed lemon, in strips
- 20 g unsalted butter, for the custard
- 1 tsp cornflour
- 2 tbsp plain flour
- 2 egg yolks
- 225 g caster sugar
- 150 ml water, for the syrup
Nuno Mendes remembers scooping barely set custard from tarts as a child in Lisbon, and his recipe chases that: the custard is deliberately loose, the pastry rolled thinner than most. He laminates a simple flour-and-water dough around a flattened slab of butter with a series of book folds, rolls it into a tight log and slices it into discs that are pressed up the sides of the tins. The filling is a flour-thickened milk infused with cinnamon and lemon peel, loosened with a light caramel syrup and finished with egg yolks, then baked in a ferociously hot oven and blistered under the grill.
Method
Brush eight individual tart tins generously with melted butter and chill them. Flatten the 175 g butter between two sheets of baking parchment to the thickness of a coin. Mix the flour with 150 ml water and a pinch of salt and knead for 5 minutes until smooth.
Shape the dough into a rectangle, wrap and chill for 20 minutes. Lay the butter in the centre, fold the dough edges over to enclose it, then fold the parcel in half.
Roll the dough out to about half its length, fold it in half and in half again to make a rectangle a quarter of the original size. Repeat once more, then chill for 20 minutes.
Roll the chilled dough into a large rectangle (roughly A3) and roll it up tightly from a long side into a sausage. Cut off a third for the tarts and freeze the rest for another day.
Slice the pastry into 8 discs slightly thicker than a coin. Press each disc into a tin with your fingers, stretching it up the sides to line the tin. Chill while you make the custard.
Warm 150 ml of the milk with one cinnamon stick, half the lemon peel and half the custard butter until simmering. Sieve the cornflour and plain flour into the remaining cold milk and whisk to a paste. Pour the warm milk over the paste, leave to infuse for a few minutes, sieve back into the pan and stir over a gentle heat for 3-4 minutes until it is the consistency of double cream. Beat in the remaining butter.
For the syrup, stir the sugar with the second cinnamon stick and remaining lemon peel over a medium heat for about 5 minutes to a light, fragrant caramel. Carefully add 150 ml water (it will spit), return to a low heat until the sugar dissolves, then strain.
Slowly whisk half the syrup into the custard until smooth. Heat the oven to 260°C (240°C fan) with a baking tray on the top shelf. Whisk the egg yolks into the custard, then pour it into the pastry cases and set them on the hot tray.
Bake on the bottom of the oven for 5 minutes, then switch to the grill, move the tarts to the top shelf and grill for 2 minutes until the tops are blistered and caramelised. Brush with the remaining syrup and cool slightly before turning out.
